Grand Falls-Windsor, Nfld, town, pop 13 340 (2001c), 14 160 (1996c), 14 693 (1991c), area 54.48 km2, inc 1991, is comprised of 2 towns which were amalgamated. It is located in central Newfoundland on the EXPLOITS RIVER. Grand Falls, a pulp and paper town, is named after the river's spectacular falls. In 1905 the Anglo-Newfoundland Development Co acquired a 99-year lease to 10 360 km2 of timber land and its minerals there.
The construction of the pulp and paper mill, supplied with power from the falls, on the route of the transinsular railway, and with access to the seaport of Botwood (35 km northeast), was completed 1909, as was the first phase of the well-planned town, which continued to be company-built and administered until 1961. It then incorporated as a municipality. The mill was acquired in 1961 by Price Brothers, which later became a division of ABITIBI-PRICE; it remains the town's largest employer.
When the pulp and paper mill was constructed in Grand Falls, a new settlement called Grand Falls Station grew up parallel to the railway. In contrast to Grand Falls, Grand Falls Station, renamed Windsor (possibly for the royal house of Windsor), grew without benefit of planning and services. In 1938 it was the second municipality in Nfld, after ST JOHN'S, to be incorporated. Municipal and community facilities followed, remedying some of the town's problems caused by rapid settlement and growth.
Today, Grand Falls-Windsor is central Newfoundland's major service and distribution centre.